Pooches put on the dog in annual fundraiser

By ROBERT MCCLURE, P-I REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Saturday, October 25, 2008

Photo: Paul Joseph Brown/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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Bammer, a miniature pinscher/Pekingese mix, came to Dog-O-Ween as a dinosaur. The ninth annual Dog-O-Ween, held Saturday at the Genesee Park off-leash area in Seattle, was a fundraising event for Citizens for Off-Leash Areas. less

Bammer, a miniature pinscher/Pekingese mix, came to Dog-O-Ween as a dinosaur. The ninth annual Dog-O-Ween, held Saturday at the Genesee Park off-leash area in Seattle, was a fundraising event for Citizens for ... more

Photo: Paul Joseph Brown/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Pooches put on the dog in annual fundraiser

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Obama and McCain were there. Joe the Plumber, too. And King Arthur, albeit a Monty Python-ized version. Not to mention Elvis and Lisa Marie. And several skeletons and pumpkins.

Yes, all came to South Seattle's Genesee Park on Saturday for the ninth annual Dog-O-Ween festival to benefit Citizens for Off-leash Areas, or COLA.

Each one had whiskers, a cold, wet nose and the ability to tolerate being dressed up by their masters in a rather ridiculous manner that will definitely not aid in catching cats or squirrels.

Vying in the costume contest for the best group were eight Shi Tzus who frequently get together to party in Redmond, each bedecked in shiny Chinese brocade satin and toting dim sum on a steamer basket on its back.

Joe the Plumber is also known as Joey. He's a 4-month-old golden retriever who was decked out in an undershirt and a cutoff pair of jeans, all held together by safety pins. He carried wrenches and other tools in the jeans pockets and sported a $250,000 check pinned to his derriere.

"Amazingly, he still has the costume on," said Joey's person, Anita Woo of Ballard. "He hasn't chewed it off yet."

And the Python-ized King Arthur? That would be David Hoefer of Seattle. As in the movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," the King Arthur who showed up at Dog-O-Ween was accompanied by a Patsy holding two coconut halves to simulate horse hooves. Patsy's name is actually Guy Devillier. This King Arthur had a second Patsy, too, Jesse Trail.

Arthur wore a crown made of spray-painted cardboard. The Patsies were clad in burlap over sparkly Christmas tree skirts.

"We thought about wearing T-shirts with sayings like 'Not dead yet,' " said Patsy #1, "but we decided sparkle was more important."

As for the dogs in this outfit? That would be Bosque and Parker, West Highland white terriers, dressed as knights of the -- their people actually planned to carry one of these on stage -- round table. Bosque and Parker were the dignified ones in the bunch.

And, oh yes, let's not forget Elvis and Lisa Marie. That's their real names. Both are two-year-old dachshunds. Yep -- wiener dogs. The came with owners Brad and Amanda Clague -- Brad dressed as an oversized mustard dispenser, Amanda imitating a ketchup container. Elvis and Lisa Marie, recently rescued from shelters, wore buns on their sides and condiments on their backs. It was all from e-Bay.